


2372

by starstarfairy



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, Deep Space 9 AU, M/M, flexing my star trek muscles, it's actually just DS9 but rin and haru are there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 02:40:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13226439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starstarfairy/pseuds/starstarfairy
Summary: Rin would never run away from his feelings, and he certainly wouldn't travel halfway across the quadrant to avoid them, either. He just happened to be there already.[Star Trek: Deep Space 9 Crossover AU]





	2372

**Author's Note:**

  * For [smolandsassy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smolandsassy/gifts).



> Happy New Year! I somehow managed to combine both prompts for this fic?! They were:
> 
> 1) Anything including HaruRin Olympic adventures. Gimme harurinpics please.
> 
> 2) Space AU. HaruRin going to see sights they have never seen before together. Can be Voltron or Star Trek related or something else. Just shoujo idiots in the space~
> 
> (Harurinpics happened completely on accident. But even if it were 300 years in the future Rin and Haru would probably still be Olympic swimmers, so it happened. Also the Olympics absolutely still exists in Star Trek fight me)
> 
> Basically I just saw "Star Trek" in the prompt and RAN with it because I AM THE BIG STAR TREK FAN (even though I haven't posted anything for it shhh) and this was my CHANCE to flex my Trekkie Cred(TM) and flaunt how much useless trivia I have stored in my brain. Um. You don't actually have to be familiar with Deep Space 9 for this to make sense, all you need to know is that it's a space station in the Star Trek universe, and you can tune out the technobabble because half the Trek writers don't know what it means either.

“ _Water, please._ ”

Rin’s ears perked up. It’d been _years_ since he’d heard unfiltered Japanese.

“Universal Translator’s broken, kid. I don’t know what language you’re speaking, but it ain’t Standard.”

Rin turned his head. A young man about his own age was frowning at the Bajoran behind the bar. Rin’s heart stopped. _No way--_

The young man sighed, repeating himself in lightly accented Standard. “ _Water_ , please,” he said, clearly irritated, raising his voice above the music and chatter around him.

“That’s better.” The barkeep fixed him a glass of ice cold water, sliding it across the bar. “Water’s not free here,” he said in a low voice, subtly nodding towards the Ferengi on the opposite side of the bar. “Two slips.”

The young man raised an eyebrow. “No.” He took the glass, turning away from the bar.

Rin saw his face and immediately stood up, knocking over his chair.

“ _Haru!_ ”

Haruka nearly dropped his glass of water, his eyes going wide. “Rin?”

Before he even knew what he was doing, Rin was running clear across the bar floor and crashing into Haruka with a hug, knocking the breath out of him. “ _Haru._ ”

“ _Rin._ ” Haruka’s voice broke. “You didn’t--you didn’t tell me you would be here.”

Rin backed away, looking at Haruka through bleary eyes. “Sorry,” he laughed, despite himself. “I just got the posting not long ago. I didn’t… really want to tell anyone until I was sure, and then I got swept up…” He stopped, and frowned. “Why are _you_ here?”

Haruka looked around at the crowded bar around them, making a face. “...Can we talk somewhere else?”

“Yeah,” Rin smiled, eager to get away from the noise himself. He turned to shout across the bar. “ _Quark!_ ”

The Ferengi shouted back in what sounded like gibberish to Rin’s ears. Rin made a face. “Oh. Right.”

A younger Ferengi sitting with a human boy raised his hand. “He says... he can’t understand you, and... you get nothing, until you get him his Universal Translator back.” He smiled proudly.

Rin raised an eyebrow. “You know Standard.” Most Ferengi resented humans and their progressive ways; they would never bother learning their languages.

The kid nodded excitedly. “I’m gonna join Starfleet someday! I gotta speak the language! ...Sir!”

His friend held up a PADD. “I’m teaching him to read.”

Rin blinked. “Huh. Well, keep up the good work, kid.” He rubbed the back of his head.

The friends beamed.

“Well,” Rin turned to Haru, “Better let the chief know.” He touched his Combadge. “Matsuoka to O’Brien.”

A pause. “... _Go ahead._ ”

“UT’s down at Quark’s again.”

“ _God damn it._ ”

Rin snickered. “Does that mean it’s my turn, Chief?”

O’Brien sighed on the other end of the line. “ _If you’d like to give it a go, sure. To be honest, I’m kind of tired of fixing it._ ”

Rin laughed out loud. “Understood. Matsuoka out.” He turned towards Haruka. “Wanna come with?”

Haruka’s eyes were shining. “...Am I allowed?”

Rin shrugged. “Not like it’s in a secret, off-limits place.” He looked aside. “And I don’t really want to abandon you, here…”

Haruka’s expression softened. “Okay.”

* * *

 

The control panel for the station-wide Universal Translator network was in a corridor just off the Promenade, hidden in plain sight. Rin took his time walking Haruka there, letting him take in the sight of the massive space station. They paused a few times to lean over the balcony railings and people-watch before Rin’s good conscience got the better of them.

Despite its location, the corridor was mostly vacant. Haruka looked up and around curiously at the Cardassian architecture, putting a hand on the arch that seemed almost backwards to his human eyes. Rin opened a hatch with a thumbprint to reveal the inner machinery on the control panel. Crouching down with a flashlight and a furrow in his brow, he inspected the tangle of wires behind it.

“...Ugh. This is complicated,” he groaned. “I’m not surprised something’s always going wrong back here.”

Haruka sat himself gingerly down on the floor, careful not to disturb Rin’s work too much. “Ah.”

Rin shuffled himself deeper behind the panel. “I mean, what do any of these even _mean?_ It would be nice of whoever built this thing to _label_ shit, y’know?”

“Mhm.” Haruka was still gaping at the arches above him.

“Oh, for God’s-- _ow_ \--” a thump sounded through the wall as Rin bumped his head, probably, “if this is the problem, I swear to God--” A few things rustled and beeped behind him, and Rin shuffled himself out of the panel, brushing the dust off of his black and gold Starfleet uniform.

He touched something on the console screen, and sighed. Haruka stood up to peer over his shoulder at the monitor. “Matsuoka to O’Brien,” Rin called, tapping his Combadge.

A sigh crackled on the other end of the comm line. _“Yes?”_

“Seems like the problem is fixed, for now.”

_“Well that’s good to hear, Matsuoka. What’d you do?”_

Rin groaned a laugh. “Something was unplugged, sir.”

_“...Sorry?”_

“I went behind the control panel and some cables were loosened. I put them back in snugly and now it works.”

Silence.

Rin tapped his Combadge again, looking at Haruka with a raised eyebrow. “Sir?” Haruka coughed to hide his laughter.

_“...Very good, Matsuoka. Sounds like you’ve had enough engineering experience for one day.”_

Haruka covered his mouth before he could laugh again, turning his head away. “Respectfully, sir,” Rin replied, “yes.”

_“Right then, I’m sure the Constable needs you more than I do. But good work nonetheless, kid. O’Brien out.”_ The comm line dropped before Rin could fit in a _“thanks.”_

Rin shoved Haruka’s shoulder. “What’s so funny?!”

Haruka wasn’t laughing, but his eyes were dancing and his cheeks were flushed; he might as well have been. “You wanted to impress me, didn’t you?”

Rin flushed. “No--!”

“It’s okay,” Haruka nodded with sudden conviction. The hallway was now empty and silent; Rin held his breath. “You’ve already impressed me, Rin.”

“You…” Rin covered his burning cheeks with the back of his hand, turning away. “What are you saying, all of a sudden...”

Haruka glanced towards the bustling Promenade. A Bolian officer turned down their corridor, walking silently past them before turning at the end of the hall. Rin exhaled, grateful it wasn’t anyone he knew.

“Um.” Rin scratched the hair at the nape of his neck. “I have to go back to work soon. I don’t think I can take you with me for the rest of it. Sorry.”

“Okay.”

“Will you still be here tomorrow?” Rin blurted. “On the station, I mean.” He bit his tongue inside his mouth, cringing internally.

“Yeah,” Haruka nodded. “I’m here for at least tonight and tomorrow night.”

“Come to the Holosuite with me. After my shift is over. I mean--” Rin had momentarily forgotten how to blink while looking Haruka in the eye--he forced himself to blink a few times, and must have looked ridiculous, but it was probably better than spontaneously bursting into tears just because he was _looking_ at him--“if you want to.”

“Yes,” Haruka said, a little too quickly, still looking him directly in the eye. “I want to.”

Rin grinned. “Great.”

* * *

 

With the Universal Translator back online, Rin was finally able to successfully negotiate with Quark for some time in the Holosuite. It was the one place on the station, after all, that he could really get Haruka alone--besides his own quarters. And taking him to his quarters _alone_ was _out of the question_ . Rin’s heart was _not_ ready for that.

Sure, they had been inseparable friends since childhood, so it wasn’t like physical proximity was an issue, exactly; Rin had never been shy about skinship, hanging all over Haruka’s shoulders since their elementary school swim club days. Even with the turmoils that adolescence brought--and there were _plenty_ \--by the end of high school they were back to their old selves like nothing had changed.

Except _that_ , of course--when Rin’s childish admiration for Haruka started blooming into something _way_ more than just a little crush.

It would have been _impossible_ to go on with his friendship without acknowledging it, but even _more_ impossible to be straightforward about his feelings, so he did what any sensible young man would do: he flirted his way the _hell_ around his feelings. And Haruka seemed to take it all in stride. What was the difference between how he normally acted with Haruka as friends and flirting with him, really? It all felt so _natural_. So it only made sense that he should sweep him into his arms and kiss him under the stars, right?

No--that time, he had gone too far.

...Had he _been_ going too far?

He felt pretty bad about how he acted back then, honestly. He hoped going somewhere far, far away would help him get over it--both his crush and his guilt. (Not that he was running away from his problems, he would _never_ do that. He just _happened_ to take a job that _happened_ to put him in another part of the galaxy, thank-you-very-much.)

And yet, seeing Haruka in Quark’s bar after nearly four years, surrounded by the stench of synthehol and the flashing lights of the Dabo wheel, was somehow exactly like the first time he saw him when they were twelve years old and innocent, the whole world no bigger than the swim club in their small fishing town in Japan-- _shining._

Rin almost brought them there, when starting up the holosuite, but... “Earth, Summer Olympics, 2368, natatorium.”

_“Program complete. Enter when ready.”_

Rin stepped forward as the Holosuite doors opened to the sound of thunderous cheers and applause, but Haruka was frozen in place. “Rin…” his eyes were wide.

Rin held out a hand with a soft smile. “We can make the crowds go away if you prefer.”

Haruka nodded.

“Computer, remove the people from the program. Empty the building.” Rin paused. “For now.” The computer beeped in acknowledgement, and the crowds vanished. With their noise gone, the water seemed more still.

Haruka knelt beside the pool, putting a hand in the water. “It feels just like the water did, then…” he said quietly.

“...Yeah,” Rin said, watching Haruka. “Our… last Olympics.”

“Rin.” Haruka spun around. “Swim with me.” His eyes were filled with emotion; he might have been on the verge of crying.

Before Rin could respond, Haruka had stripped naked and plunged into the water. “Gah--!” Rin spluttered, struggling with his own Starfleet issue jumpsuit--significantly harder to peel off than street clothes. “Computer, can we get some swimsuits? _Please?!_ ” The computer beeped, two pairs of jammers starting to materialize beside the pool.

“Cancel that, _com-pu-ter_ ,” Haruka called, surfacing from the water. The computer beeped again, the swimsuits disappearing. “I don’t want it.” He flicked his hair out of his eyes, making eye contact with Rin. “The water feels nice like this.”

“You…” Rin finally stepped out of his underwear, diving in the pool immediately to hide his irritation. He surfaced to find Haruka actually _floating on his back_ , what in the _hell_ \--he turned away, dunking his simmering face in the water immediately.

“They won’t have my swimsuit,” Haruka’s muffled voice called from above the water.

Rin cautiously breached the surface, grateful to find Haruka treading water now. “You swam in the Olympics. I can guarantee that they have your swimsuits on file somewhere. Even your practice ones.”

Haruka hummed, skeptical.

“Computer--” the computer beeped-- “query. Can you replicate any swimsuits known to have been worn by the swimmer Nanase Haruka? Born the 30th of June 2342, standard Earth date.”

_“Affirmative. Records on file include official competition swimsuits from Earth Olympic Games: 2360, 2364, 2368; official issue practice swimsuits from Japanese National Team dated 2359, 2360, 2362, 2363--”_

“That’s enough, computer, thank you.” Rin waved a hand. “Another query, computer--” beep-- “if I ask you to replicate me one of these swimsuits, can you replicate it _on_ Haru here?”

_“Affirmative.”_

“Rin,” Haruka warned.

“Computer,” Rin grinned, “please replicate the practice suit from... 2365…? On Haru. Make it a snug fit.”

“ _Oof--!_ ” Haruka looked down. The jammers were on, tight as a glove. “That was... weird.”

Rin laughed so hard he fell underwater.

“Com _pu_ ter, make a pair for Rin too.”

“ _Oi--!_ ”

They swam (and tried on swimsuits) until even Haruka was tired, opting to just sit on the edge of the pool instead. The presence of water, the source of the bond between them, made conversation flow a little more easily; yet, being alone together in this grand space was a bit eerie--it reminded Rin a little too much that it wasn’t _real_. He tried not to think about it too hard. At least Haruka, sitting beside him, was one hundred percent real.

“You never did tell me why you were here, you know,” Rin nudged.

“Ah,” Haruka had a faraway look in his eyes. “You know how I was doing photography as a hobby for a while?” Rin nodded. “Someone liked my photos, so I’m taking more pictures for them now.”

Rin laughed. “That’s _so_ vague.” He didn’t expect anything different.

Haruka shrugged. “I get to go to new places and take pictures of nature. And water. It’s nice.” He dipped his hand in the pool. “Water looks especially nice in a still holo-photograph.”

Rin said nothing, watching Haruka play with the water.

“It’s amazing,” Haruka said quietly, picking up handfuls of water and letting them trail through his fingers back into the pool.

“Yeah,” Rin nodded quickly. “Holo-technology is so cool, right? I always wanted to get into it, but it seemed even more complicated than your standard engineering stuff, so, y’know…”

Haruka shook his head. “That’s not what I meant.” He stirred the water with his fingers. “I mean… all this amazing technology we have. We can go anywhere we want. We can even go to imaginary places with this thing. And all anyone ever wants to do is go home.”

Rin swallowed. “Haru…”

“I wanted to see you,” Haruka said quietly.

“...Huh?”

“Taking this photography assignment, where I could travel everywhere…” Haruka said, his voice almost a whisper, “I thought there might be a chance I could see you again.”

“But--” Rin almost laughed, “you wanted to do it, didn’t you? I mean, you didn’t go star-hopping just for a chance at a glimpse of me, right? Because that would just be...” _romantic._

Haruka tilted his head, looking at Rin curiously. “Of course I wanted to do it. I never do anything I don’t want to do. But,” he said, “you… you’re still the reason I ever really _did_ anything with my life, in the first place. You… inspired me.”

Now, Rin had to laugh. He _what?_

Haruka at least had the decency to look a bit embarrassed; he glanced back at the water, diligently returning to cupping it with his hands.

“Do you ever--” Haruka started, then corrected himself, furrowing his brow in concentration and hugging his knees close.

“No, ask,” Rin urged.

Haruka stared at the water. “Do you ever wish… we had stayed on for one more Olympics?”

Rin didn’t respond. How could he answer a question like that? Of course he wished, sometimes--sometimes he _longed_ to turn back the clock, _anything_ to be with Haruka like this again, but life wasn’t that simple.

“It would have been this year,” Haruka said quietly. “You remember, don’t you?”

“...Of course I do,” Rin sighed bitterly. “How could I forget?”

Haruka hugged his knees tighter. “Sometimes… I wonder if you have.”

“I--” Rin’s eyes prickled. _No._ “Why--?” he choked, reaching for Haruka’s shoulder.

“Because!” Haruka grabbed Rin’s wrist, tearing his hand away. “I thought we were following _our_ dreams. _Together_ .” Haruka’s grip on Rin’s wrist tightened. “You’re the whole reason I ever dared to step foot outside the prefecture, you can’t just go flying away to another _star system!_ Maybe one, or both of us, wouldn’t have made it this year, but what difference does it make? Did you somehow think that if we stopped swimming together, we’d stop being a part of each other’s lives? Aren’t we worth more to each other than that? You can’t just-- _disappear_ \--”

Haruka was in Rin’s face now, their noses nearly touching. Rin could barely breathe, shocked and slightly thrilled by Haruka’s outburst. Haruka’s eyes were fiercely locked on Rin’s, desperately seeking an answer.

“I--” Rin’s voice broke. “Of _course_ you’re worth more to me than that. I just--thought--ugh.” Rin tore his hand away from Haruka’s grasp. “It’s not that simple, Haru!” he cried. “The world is bigger than Japan, bigger than _Earth_ , even. If I stayed still for too long, then…” Rin slumped. “I don’t know. That’s not even the point. It’s just...”

Haruka studied the ground between them. “I get it. You always want to move forward.”

Rin bit his lip.

“And you think I always want to stay behind, so that’s where you left me.”

“Haru--”

“You thought I didn’t feel the same way, because you’re an idiot,” Haruka sighed.

Rin exhaled in a bit of hysterical laughter, not sure where the conversation was headed. “Uh… sorry…?” he supplied awkwardly.

“Rin--” Haruka covered Rin’s hands with his own. “Remember when we won gold in the medley?” He traced Rin’s knuckles with his thumb, studying them fondly; Rin’s heart briefly malfunctioned. “You wouldn’t take your arm off of me the whole time… in all the interviews you’d kept saying it was _our_ dream, you were shining so brightly, it was annoying…” he laughed. (Sirens went off in Rin’s head.) “On our way back to the Village, when all the cameras were finally off us, you pointed out a star in the night sky to me, and you said, ‘that’s our next stop!’… and then you kissed me under that star, and all the other stars.” He paused. “You looked so happy...”

Haruka laced their fingers together. “Before I met you, I was content to just stay still and live life in a small town. But you showed me how big the world is. Rin. I want to move forward… and keep moving forward, in that world. With you.” He inhaled sharply through his nose, looking Rin dead in the eye.

“Let’s get married, Rin.”

Rin blinked. “... _What?!_ ”

Haruka pouted, as if he were growing impatient. “If you want to keep on working in Starfleet, that’s what works best, right? They can’t separate us as easily if we’re married.”

“ _What._ ”

“...You want to be together, don’t you?”

“ _What._ ”

Haruka’s brow pinched. “Did I read the mood wrong…?” he muttered, as if to himself.

Rin covered his reddening face. “... _Why_ would you want to marry _me?_ ”

Haruka blinked. “Because I’m in love with you.”

“Oh my god,” Rin buried his face in his hands. “You can’t throw that statement around so carelessly!”

“I’m not being careless,” Haruka said, growing increasingly impatient, “it’s the truth.”

“Since when?!”

“When?” Haruka tilted his head again, and Rin could _not_ believe how cute he could be doing something so simple. “Probably since I met you, but… I probably didn’t realize what it actually was until high school…”

Rin tackled him in a fierce hug. “You _idiot,_ ” he half-sobbed. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

Haruka smiled fondly. “You’re one to talk.” He tightened his arms, burying his smile in Rin’s shoulder and closing his eyes. “It’s always been you, Rin.”

“Haru…” Tears spilled from Rin’s eyes. “ _I missed you._ ”

Haruka kissed his ear. “Me too.”

* * *

 

“Hey Nanase! Look at this!” Rin pulled a PADD out of his swim bag, and started a video.

_“Introducing the Galaxy Class of starships! The long-awaited next incarnation of the Enterprise to be the new flagship! Replicator codes for action figures available now!”_

“So cool!” Rin cooed. “Nanase, wouldn’t it be cool to go on one of those for real?”

Haruka shrugged. “Too much effort.”

“Jeez,” Rin whined. “So serious. Just think about it! Nabbing bad guys with a phaser! You’d be a _hero of Earth!_ ” Rin proclaimed in Standard, pumping his fist. "And of course, when you're not beating up on bad guys, you can explore the whole _universe!_ "

Haruka looked away. _Too bright._

“Hey,” Rin grabbed his hand. “Even if you don’t wanna be in Starfleet, you should still come with me!”

Haruka blinked. “Why?”

“Be _cause_ ,” Rin whined, “think of all the cool things we’ll see! It’ll really be a sight you’ve never seen before!”

Haruka narrowed his eyes. First swimming a relay, then the Olympics, now _this?_

“Of course,” Rin continued, looking smug, “we have to win some Olympic medals first. We can’t move on from this planet until we’ve established ourselves! First Earth, then the Alpha Quadrant, next, _the galaxy!! The final frontier!!_ ” Rin pointed at the locker room ceiling, a faraway twinkle in his eye.

Haruka could only stare in awe. _His dreams are so much greater than mine…_

“After that, will you marry me?” Rin turned towards Haruka, taking his hands with a suddenly serious expression.

Haruka’s eyes shot wide open. “Huh?!”

“It’s only right, you know,” Rin pointed a finger in Haruka’s face, “after all, we’ll be a package deal! A pair unit! We’ll be inseparable! But if I’m gonna be a super-cool Starfleet officer, then you have to marry me if you wanna come with me! That’s the rule... I think.” Rin shrunk away from Haruka, remembering some of his shame.

Haruka blushed, turning away. “Don’t go saying such weird things…”

Rin laughed, tackling Haruka in a hug from behind. “That wasn’t a no!”

**Author's Note:**

> ...People generally have Universal Translator's implanted in their ears at this point in the timeline, but they must be hooked up to a network or something in order to access the language databases, right? *sweats* Also, yes, if you do the math, Rin and Haru are just about 30 in this fic... ^^;
> 
> I have no regrets except that somehow I managed to give a cameo to Nog and not Kira or Dax like I had one job
> 
> Also O'Brien can't catch a break even in my crossover AU fic like stop bothering him on his day off, Rin
> 
> ...
> 
> Anyway, Happy New Year again!! I hope you enjoyed this! <3


End file.
